Watch: Gowdy Hammers FBI over Handling of Hillary's Investigation
Former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy railed against the Federal Bureau of Investigation Monday night on “Hannity,” deriding the alleged mishandling of several investigations involving the 2016 presidential election.
In his Fox News appearance, Gowdy leveled numerous criticisms at former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, and their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified documents as Secretary of State.
“I am convinced that they handled that investigation in a way unlike any investigation I have ever seen handled before,” Gowdy said.
The former House Oversight Committee Chair made the case that not only had Clinton violated the Espionage Act by storing classified documents on a private server, but that Comey was incorrect in asserting that there was no evidence of “necessary intent” — an element many argue is not a factor under the statute.
“Would there be intention if you delete 33,000 subpoenaed emails, acid wash your hard drive with BleachBit, bust up your devices with hammers and pull out sim cards, sir? You never lost a case. Would that be a good case for obstruction of justice?” Sean Hannity asked Gowdy.
“It is fantastic evidence on the issue of intent — which is what Comey said he didn’t have. It is consciousness of wrongdoing. It is knowledge,” Gowdy said, “All of that in addition to the multiple demonstrably false statements she made about her own handling of it.”
But Gowdy’s criticisms were not confined to the Clinton email investigation.
The former representative also spoke to Hannity about the question of whether or not investigation into alleged Trump Campaign involvement in Russian collusion originated fraudulently and unlawfully.
“It is even worse,” Gowdy said. “They made no effort to corroborate the [Steele] Dossier until after it had been used in the [FISA] application and a renewal. No effort.”
“It’s not that they failed. They made no effort,” he repeated.
Gowdy’s appearance came just hours after it was announced that Attorney General William Barr had assigned U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut to examine where the Russia investigation originated.
“This is the fourth person that has been charged with investigating the origins of the Russia probe,” Gowdy told Hannity. “So, I am more interested in how quickly they do it and how effectively they do it.”
“If this is the right person to do it, more power to them. There is an easy roadmap to follow,” Gowdy said.
The former representative went on to say that there are two primary questions he wants definitively answered by the initial examination: Why the FBI initially began associating the Trump Campaign with Russian interference, and how the Bureau assessed the Steele Dossier.
“I want to know the origins of when the FBI started to intermingle the Trump Campaign with the Russia probe,” Gowdy said, speaking about Peter Strzok — the FBI’s top agent on the case — and private texts revealing Strozk’s hopes that the case would kill Donald Trump’s chances of being elected.
“You just quoted [Sen.] Lindsey Graham as saying ‘They want to stop Trump.’ All [Graham] was doing was quoting Peter Strzok,” Gowdy said. “That’s what Peter Strzok said in a text. ‘No, we’ll stop it.'”
Gowdy said the American people should also be given access to the FBI’s initial assessment on Christopher Steele’s credibility — a document Graham has pushed to declassify in recent days.
The former representative made clear that he believes this document would clearly show that the FBI was using unverified information to spy on and delegitimize the Trump Campaign and the White House.
“I want to know, how did the FBI assess Christopher Steele?” Gowdy said. “They have their own internal documents. Part of what [Graham] wants to make public are the internal FBI documents where they did their own assessment.”
“I think you will be surprised at whether or not they viewed Steele as being credible,” he concluded.
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